A Guide to filling in your Diab1 Medical form

Is it OK to tick the Yes box in the awareness of hypos in the DIAB1 form when you are dependent of the CGM/pump alerts for this awareness?
Has the DVLA medical group made an official announcement of this?
 
dandyc said:
Is it OK to tick the Yes box in the awareness of hypos in the DIAB1 form when you are dependent of the CGM/pump alerts for this awareness?
Has the DVLA medical group made an official announcement of this?
Click to expand...
You are not allowed to drive if you have no hypo awareness, this has never changed and it does state somewhere to the effect that CGM's are not a replacement for hypo unawareness.

So from what you have written I take it you have no awareness so nope you can not drive if this is the case.
 
Welcome @dandyc 🙂 If you have hypo unawareness you must not drive and must inform the DVLA about this.
 
Yeah sorry - the Hypo awareness has to be independent of some other thing, or person, telling you.
 
The DVLA do not accept you relying on electronic aids to warn you - This might change in future as electronic monitoring gets better.
Good Luck with your diabetes control.
 
dandyc said:
Is it OK to tick the Yes box in the awareness of hypos in the DIAB1 form when you are dependent of the CGM/pump alerts for this awareness?
Has the DVLA medical group made an official announcement of this?
Click to expand...
I have just renewed my license and they state
“Alarms on RT-CGM devices must not be used as a substitute for symptomatic awareness of hypoglycaemia. You must recognise hypoglycaemia through the symptoms you experience for the purpose of Group 1 driving. Should you become reliant on these alarms to advise you are hypoglycaemic you must stop driving and notify the DVLA”

I would not expect this to change. RT-CGM may fail as shown by the requirement to carry a finger prick meter when driving.

Incidentally, I applied online less than a week ago, my current license expires in April and my new one arrived today.
With the current backlog in the DVLA, I expected the application to take much longer.
 
I find anything DVLA is either tick all the boxes, computer says "yes", and the computer prints out the paperwork, posts it off, no time at all.
Or,
tick a box it can't process, diverted to a big pile on someone's desk, sits there for months, then gets lost.
Not much inbetween.
 
At least years ago when they didn't know what to do with things, they asked for largely irrelevant info from the strangest sources. eg Could I read a car numberplate at 30 paces? So you'd think my optician would be able to answer that from all the eyetests he keeps doing for me especially the one he did the other day.
Nope - got to be a driving test examiner at the local test centre .......

So we got outside and he asked me to read one on their carpark - the silver one between the blue and red one please. Are you sure, I asked, cos that silver Peugeot C4 between the blue Fiesta and the red Antara, is my car that I parked there 5 minutes ago, so might it be better if I read one of the others in the circs - but your choice obviously! Just a ruddy hoot! But now they don't even do things like that to waste anyone else's time as well as ours. The only comfort is, they aren't picking on us specifically - everyone is in the same ruddy boat.
 
I think there is a level of ambiguity in the DVLA form. Can’t remember the numbers of the questions but at the time I completed the form I think it asked if you had ever had a hypo - at that time I had not. (New diagnosis and newly on insulin) It then went on to ask if you recognise the symptoms ( can’t remember exact wording) well I ticked no as while I knew what to look out for I’d just answered the other question saying I’d never experienced it. Needless to say they revoked my licence. Have spoken to them and was advised to write. Have done this but expect it will be a protracted affair. Feel a fool but at the same time I answered the questions truthfully.
 
shiffcam13 said:
I think there is a level of ambiguity in the DVLA form. Can’t remember the numbers of the questions but at the time I completed the form I think it asked if you had ever had a hypo - at that time I had not. (New diagnosis and newly on insulin) It then went on to ask if you recognise the symptoms ( can’t remember exact wording) well I ticked no as while I knew what to look out for I’d just answered the other question saying I’d never experienced it. Needless to say they revoked my licence. Have spoken to them and was advised to write. Have done this but expect it will be a protracted affair. Feel a fool but at the same time I answered the questions truthfully.
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You need to know what symptoms to look for to identify a hypo regardless of whether you’ve had one or not. If you didnt know what symptoms to look for to spot a hypo it wouldn’t be safe to drive. Most people can feel those signs before actually having a hypo, especially when newly diagnosed or newly on insulin and been running higher bgs.
 
shiffcam13 said:
(New diagnosis and newly on insulin) It then went on to ask if you recognise the symptoms ( can’t remember exact wording) well I ticked no as while I knew what to look out for I’d just answered the other question saying I’d never experienced it. Needless to say they revoked my licence.
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There lies your problem, you told them you didn't know the symptoms of a hypo.
Not knowing the symptoms is a no no as is no hypo warnings.

Even though you haven't had a hypo yet, you state you know the symptoms, so you should tick yes to knowing the symptoms.
 
Hi @Pumper_Sue , completely agree that should be the case. However I feel the question is ambiguous as a hypo affects everyone differently so even though you’ve been told what the symptoms are unless you’ve experienced it how can you look out for them in yourself as everyone’s individual. You’re right of course we all need to be safe. Certainly know what it feels like now - not very pleasant.
 
shiffcam13 said:
Hi @Pumper_Sue , completely agree that should be the case. However I feel the question is ambiguous as a hypo affects everyone differently so even though you’ve been told what the symptoms are unless you’ve experienced it how can you look out for them in yourself as everyone’s individual. You’re right of course we all need to be safe. Certainly know what it feels like now - not very pleasant.
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I’d expect you to have experienced the symptoms even if you’ve not had a bg under 4, as it’s common to experience them when your bg is dropping from high levels to normal levels, or when you get close to the 4s/5s from having higher blood sugars previously.
 
Hello all Derek here. i have the feeling i will be visiting this site for advice quite a lot.
i have type 2 and was diagnosed in 2009 but thing have moved on so will need advice from others that have gone through the process.

kind regards
Derek

PS cheeky little fella isn't me.
 
glorybean said:
I've just had a letter from the DVLa stating that I must renew the photo on my driving licence as it's out of date. I'm now 69 and don't know whether to renew my licence or not. I'm on 5 insulin injections daily, and think they will knock me back anyway and say I mustn't drive. We may be moving to the country and I may need to drive, although I haven't driven for two years. What does anyone think?
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If you can control your level well then Let sleeping dogs lie.
 
I'm about to wrestle with this form, but I'd like to complete it electronically and then print it. Any recommendations without spending a fortune on Acrobat ? Thanks.

PS I have indicated on the form when I last saw the diabetic nurse as being an effective proxy for the Dr. Is this an issue ? Are DVLA absolutely literal minded when it comes to this ?
 
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victorhamesse said:
I'm about to wrestle with this form, but I'd like to complete it electronically and then print it. Any recommendations without spending a fortune on Acrobat ? Thanks.

PS I have indicated on the form when I last saw the diabetic nurse as being an effective proxy for the Dr. Is this an issue ? Are DVLA absolutely literal minded when it comes to this ?
Click to expand...
In the past I've done it electronically but also filled in the paper version and kept that as my copy.

Re HCPs, I've just given the date of the last review by GP surgery (I've never seen the same person twice!). Haven't seen a consultant since 1998 so leave those details blank. Never had a problem - licence always issued very quickly
 
JJay said:
In the past I've done it electronically but also filled in the paper version and kept that as my copy.

Re HCPs, I've just given the date of the last review by GP surgery (I've never seen the same person twice!). Haven't seen a consultant since 1998 so leave those details blank. Never had a problem - licence always issued very quickly
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. I've discovered that Adobe Reader allows PDF forms to be completed - hurrah. Yes, I'll also keep and send a paper copy.

One more thing.

Q1b (inc Gliclazide) says to go to Q3 when completed but before Q3 it asks " Do you check your blood sugar levels ?" I intend not to complete that but answer "Yes" to Q3 and Q7. I guess DVLA only cares about blood sugar checks related to driving.

Thanks.
 
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victorhamesse said:
I'm about to wrestle with this form, but I'd like to complete it electronically and then print it
Click to expand...
What’s the point of printing it? Why not submit it online. You’ll get your licence far quicker.
 
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